PLEASE TURN ON "WORD WRAP"
FLIGHT SIMULATOR BASICS- The "need to know" stuff
Bob Seaman/FREEFlight Design Shop
LEGAL HOOPLA- This document is provided as freeware by the author. Aside from ISP and
telephone costs (if any), there will be no fees paid for the distribution of this document.
This document may be made available for download at any web site providing the author has
given permission for this work to be used. This document may not be placed in any form of
media storage (floppy disk, CDrom, etc) for the purpose of sale.
CREDITS- My sincere thanks go out to Microsoft/BAO/APOLLO for producing and upgrading
the Flight Simulator family of software and leaving enough loopholes in the code so that we
can go in and add our own planes, panels, scenery, and other goodies. I would also like to
thank FREEFlight Design Shop for giving me a forum to post these docs and the opportunity
to work with some of the greatest freeware designers on the planet. I also want to mention
the crew at www.FLIGHTSIM.com, Keith's Virtual Helipad, the Virtual Airline groups, and all
the sites that provide high quality work and keep the concept of FREEWARE alive. The sim
community would be a very boring and expensive place if not for these sites. I also must thank
all of the designers who spent the long hours designing and testing software and then made the
very moral decision to offer their work as for the good of the hobby and provide it for free.
Lastly, I want to thank you, the reader, for taking the time to download and read this doc and
the guts to want to make changes to a perfectly good program. - Bob Seaman 11/98
SO, HOW FAR DO YOU WANT TO GO WITH FLIGHT SIMULATOR?
Microsoft's Flight Simulator has an almost unique quality in that you can add to or change most
of the components in the game. Added to that, the vast majority of these additions are free and
available from many providers on the internet. As your skills increase, the game has the flexibility
to change with you. Want to change the weather? You can do this in the game, or download a program
that allows you to import a worldwide weather database and make the changes automatically as you
fly along (RealWeather). Tired of the single engine Cessna 182? Download a twin engine plane or a
P-51 Mustang. Know someone with a Piper? Surprise them with an accurate model of THEIR plane,
painted just like the real thing and located at their airport. Saw a picture or heard about a new
jet? The odds are good that someone has already made the plane for FS or that it will be ready by
the end of the month. Your only limitations are how much space you have available on your hard
drive and the speed of your computer. My only warning to you is please, please, PLEASE do not try
to fly a plane for real just because you aced the plane in the game! Flight Simulator is a two
dimensional representation of a three dimensional world. No matter how complex your computer is,
there is no way that it can model all of the quirks of the real world.
GETTING TO KNOW FLIGHT SIMULATOR
Before you start adding or changing components of the game, you should take the time to
investigate what FS is made of and where it is located. For the purposes of this document,
I'm going to assume that you are using Flight Simulator 98 and that your computer uses
Windows 98 as an operating system.
To locate FS98, double click the 'my computer' icon and find a file called 'PROGRAM FILES',
usually located on your main (or 'C') drive. Double click this folder and look for another folder
called 'Microsoft Games'. Double click this folder and look for the 'Flight Simulator' folder.
The path we followed can also be expressed as:
C:\Program Files\Microsoft Games\Flight Simulator
The path above will be important later when you need to unzip downloaded files. Its also a good
idea to note what are called 'DOS equivalents' for the above paths. Dos equivalents are based on
folder/file names that are longer than eight characters. You can find a folder/file DOS name by
highlighting the icon in windows with a single mouse click, then clicking 'File' at the top of
the screen and selecting 'Properties". A box will pop up and if you look about half-way down,
you'll see something like "Flight~1". This is the DOS name of Flight Simulator. I mentioned this
DOS stuff in case you ever want to edit the gauges used on an instrument panel. The " ~ " is
called a 'tilde' and is located next to the <1/!> key on your keyboard.
Getting back to the folders that make up FS, if you double click the FS folder you will see a
bunch of folders. The ones we will be concerned with are the folders called 'Aircraft'and 'Gauges'.
Double click the 'Aircraft' folder and you should see- MORE FOLDERS! I know, I know, there's a lot
of this folder stuff, but stick with it, we're at a very important point. What you should now see
are the folders that contain the aircraft that came with FS. Until you are confident with what makes
FS tick, DO NOT DELETE, EDIT OR MESS WITH THESE FOLDERS IN ANY WAY except to see what is inside them.
For example, lets say that you don't like the Cessna 182RG and you want to dump it to save space.
If you do that, you won't be able to fly any downloaded piston plane (they just won't exist) and the
game itself will probably crash. THE ORIGINAL AIRCRAFT MUST STAY IN PLACE NO MATTER WHAT ELSE YOU
PUT INTO THE GAME.
Lets use the 737 as an example of what a plane is made of. Double click the foldercalled 'B737_400'
and you will see the following folders:
model
panel
sound
texture
You will also see files called 'aircraft(.CFG), Boeing 737-400(.AIR),and BOEING737-400CHECK(.CFG). Note
that the stuff inside the () are what you would see if you checked out the properties of the files.
ALL DOWNLOAD AIRCRAFT WILL USE THIS FOLDER/FILE FORMAT WITH THE EXCEPTION OF THE 'CHECK' FILE. For a
quick explanation of what is going on, each folder/file does a different job of telling FS what the
plane looks like, what color it is, what the panel looks like,how it sounds, and how it flies. The
other folder that is important is the 'Gauges' folder. It contains all of the instruments that are
found on the instrument panel FOR ALL THE PLANES you fly in FS.
YOUR FIRST DOWNLOAD (Get the important stuff first)
The basic tools you need to get started with add ons can be found at most of the web sites that
provide FS add ons or at Microsoft's homepage (www.microsoft.com). Let's say that you want to
go to the source and get your files from Microsoft. Log on to their site and look around the main
web page 'till you see the 'personal computing/Games' line. Click it and then select 'Flight
Simulator98' from the pull down menu at the top left of the page. Go to 'downloads' and you should
see some available files for download that are all free. You MUST download the FS98 CONVERTER. You
should also download (d/l) the patch files for FS98 EVEN IF YOU HAVE NO PROBLEMS WITH THE GAME. The
patch files do a great job with speeding up the frame rate and make some minor corrections to the
navaids that are in the game. If you don't already have a 'zip' file decompressor program on your
computer, download a file called 'Winzip'. Ok, now log off the 'net and lets get ready to set all
this stuff up.
Before you do anything, if you use the 'Logbook' in FS, be sure to back up the file in the 'Pilots'
folder called 'logbook'. In case the game ever crashes and you have to reload or re-install it, the
logbook will ALWAYS get wiped out. Backup is simple, just drop a 3.5" floppy in your computer, then
single click the logbook file to highlight it and then double click 'File' at the top of the screen
and select 'send to' then '3.5' or 'A:'. Its a good idea to back this file up weekly or monthly.
The first file to add to FS should be the converter. Depending on how your computer stores
download files, locate the converter icon and double click it. The converter and the other files
you got will all autoload themselves into Windows. Do the same with the other programs you just got.
Take some time to read the README files that came with the programs. You will find some
great info in them. It's also a good idea to print these README files out and keep them handy.
I'm going to skip past the patch file (don't worry about it) and you'll need to read and understand
how to use the Zip utility (they are all a little different), but lets set up the converter. First of
all, where is the darned thing? Instead of using the shortcut button on your desktop to start FS,
click the 'Start' button on the lower left hand corner of the desktop, then click 'program files'
and find 'Microsoft Games', then 'Flight Simulator'. When all that stuff is open, you should see
the converter. You can leave it as is, or single click-and-hold the converter icon and drag it out
to the desktop. This will cause a 'shortcut' icon to be generated. Drag the shortcut icon and place
it under or next to the FS icon. Now, double click the converter icon. A grey box should appear
with buttons marked 'Aircraft Files', 'Adventure Files','options', 'help', and 'exit'.
To finish the converter set up, click the 'options' button and then check the paths for the FS
related directories. Remember about 800 lines ago when I mentioned how to find the path for FS?
I recommend using your desktop as the input location for aircraft files. You can brouse to it
using the path 'windows\desktop'. Once you've downloaded a ton of airplanes, you can always change
this to another path but use the desktop for now. Also, check all the little white boxes.
Whats all this stuff about adventures? Relax, grasshopper, adventures are prepackaged flights
you can download and are beyond the scope of this document. Maybe the next one will address this
subject. Last, be sure to save your downloaded files to disk, tape or in a spot on your hard drive
where you can find them later if you need them.
YOUR NEXT DOWNLOAD (Getting the good stuff)
Ok, its time to do the fun stuff! Lets go shopping for a free airplane and a panel to go with it!
Log on to your favorite web site and find a plane that you want. If they have it, get the panel at
the same time. BE SURE THAT YOU READ THE DOCS AT THE SITE AND THAT THE PANEL IS FOR FS98 ONLY AND
THE PLANE IS FOR FS5.X OR FS98. DO NOT TRY TO USE PANELS FOR DIFFERENT VERSIONS OF FS OR PLANES FOR
FSWin95 OR FS4.X. There is no way to get them to work in FS98. Also check the resolution that the
panel was designed to use and be sure that your computer can support it. Now, go ahead and download
your selections. I recommend using a Zip (or Jazz) drive as the destination for the download. If
you don't have these drives, use your desktop or a spot on your hard drive thats easy to find.
Before you log off, leave a 'thank you' e-mail to the nice people who run the site. Its not often
that you can get something for nothing and these people do this for free on a voluntary basis.
GETTING EVERYTHING UNWRAPPED AND INSTALLED
Always install the plane first! If the icons for the zipped files do not look like the icons that
your unzip utility uses (instead they have the 'plain' windows icon or a word processor icon), you
can set Windows to recognize them by double clicking them and then scrolling down the program-type
list 'till you find the unzip utility. If you double click the zip icon and your unzip utility
automatically starts, relax, you're in fat city! "Hey, wait a minute! I downloaded a plane for FS98!
Why did I have to download the converter?" Relax, even if the plane was designed for FS98, the
converter added some other things to FS98 to allow for different airplane configurations such as four
engines. There are very few d/l planes that don't need the converter. Ok, lets see whats in the zip
file for the plane. Double click the zip icon and you should see a list of the included files. You
should see files with a '.air' and '.#af' extension (the stuff after the '.'), plus a 'readme' text
file as a minimum. If nothing shows up, don't dispare! Win98 is very picky when it comes to what are
called 'alias's'. Don't worry about what an alias is. Its a long explanation and this doc is long
enough as it is! If nothing shows up, use the 'select all' feature of your unzip utility and, being
sure that the 'remove extracted files' option is turned off, go ahead and unzip the file to your
desktop using the 'generate stored folders' option. If you get a bunch of file icons, the rule of
thumb is that you'll need to run the converter. If you see files with a .MDL and .CFG extension or
if you see a bunch of folders called 'sound','model','texture', etc (remember where we saw folders
like that before?) then you'll just have to manually install the plane. Lets use two examples of
setting up a plane:
1.) The plane is in FS5.X format- Simply unzip all the files to the desktop. Then start the
converter. Select 'Aircraft Files' and if you set the converter right, you should see the plane
name followed by '.air'. Single click the plane to highlite it and check that the plane appears in
the 'File Name' box, then just hit the 'open' button. The converter will do its thing and then
you can exit the converter and dump the plane files on the desktop into the 'recycle bin'. Thats it,
you're done. Start FS and the plane will be in the 'aircaft' list.
2.) The plane is in FS98 format- Here it gets a little (but not a lot) tricky. Be sure that you
select the 'generate stored folders' option before you unzip the plane and unzip the files to
the desktop. If you see a single folder and a couple of 'loose' files, then move the folder to
a spot on the desktop that doesn't get covered up when you click on the 'my computer' icon. Click
your way along until you get to the 'Aircraft' folder of FS98. Now, click and drag the plane folder
and drop it in the 'Aircraft' folder of FS98. Close all the folders and start FS.
If things didn't work out as planned (you got a desktop crammed full of file icons or nothing
happened at all or the plane is not in FS's aircraft list), don't give up yet! Go back and look
at what is supposed to be in a plane folder and which folders should be in it. You can make your
own folders by clicking 'my computer' then click the 'C' drive. At the top of the window, select
'new' then 'folder' and then name the new folders 'model', 'panel', 'sound', etc and manually
place all the files in the folders. Be sure to name the main folder with the same name as the
planes .air file (ex.- If the .air folder is 'Piper.air', call the main folder 'Piper').
Later on, as you get more comfortable with downloading planes, try unzipping files directly to
FS98. Check your zip utility docs to see how or ask around on the net. Also try unzipping a single
file and three or four files at a time from the zip file. Also, be sure to read the 'readme' file
that came with the zip file. This sounds obvious, but is often overlooked.
Above all, DON'T GIVE UP! The flight sim community is full of good people who want to help.
As long as you are polite and provide as much detail as you can, someone will get you on the right
track. Remember, the only dumb question is the one you don't ask. NOTE: IF YOU DOWNLOADED A FILE THAT
CONTAINS FILES WITH '.AFX' AND '.PCX' EXTENSIONS, DO NOT TRY TO USE THESE FILES UNLESS YOU HAVE
A PROGRAM CALLED 'FLIGHT SHOP' OR THE NEW AIRCRAFT BUILDER PROGRAM FROM ABACUS.
Ok, we have the plane installed in FS98, now lets give it a new, custom instrument panel. Note
that you don't have to use a new panel with a converted or downloaded plane, it just makes it so
much better! You need to be comfortable with your unzipping utility. Specifically, you should be
able to unzip single or multiple files from the zip file and place them directly into FS98 folders.
Start by finding all of the files that end with the '.gau' extension (after you've read the 'readme
file', of course) and unzip them to FS98's 'Gauges' folder. Be sure to open the 'Gauges' folder to
see if they arrived. If you see a zip icon called 'Gauges' in the 'Gauges' folder, be sure to unzip
the contents (use 'C:' as a destiniation) and then delete the zip file.
Next, go back to the original zip file and unzip the remaining files to the desktop. If the zip
file didn't generate a folder to put everything into, simply create a folder called 'Panel' and
drag the files into it. At a minimum, you must have a file with a '.bmp' extension and a file
called 'Panel.cfg'. Now, go to the plane folder you want to install the panel in and delete the
'Panel' folder. DO NOT TRY THIS WITH THE PLANES THAT CAME WITH FS98 UNLESS YOU REALLY KNOW WHAT
YOU'RE DOING OR UNLESS THE 'README' FILE THAT CAME WITH THE PANEL TOLD YOU TO. Lastly, drag the
new 'Panel' folder into the plane folder, then close all the folders and start FS98.
In closing, you may note that it is very easy to make changes to a panel background (the .bmp files).
Please be sure that you do not violate the wishes of the designer, especially if you intend to share
the panel with others. NOTHING cheeses off a designer more than seeing their stuff on the 'net with
someone else's name all over it after they spent many hours in construction and testing. The concept
of freeware can be very fragile at times. Have fun and fly happy.
Now, that wasn't so complicated, was it?
EXTRA STUFF (FS98 file paths where 'X' is the drive where FS is located)
Flight Simulator- X:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT SIMULATOR
FS98 gauge folder- X:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT
SIMULATOR\GAUGES
Specific airplane- X:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT
SIMULATOR\AIRCRAFT\
Specific Panel- X:\PROGRAM FILES\MICROSOFT GAMES\FLIGHT
SIMULATOR\AIRCRAFT\\PANEL
NOT EVERYTHING IS FREE... (The author's list of 'must have' payware)
'FSFX' by PapaTango- A program that adds detail to scenery and increases frame rate at the same
time!
'Flight Shop' by BAO/APOLLO- Sadly out of print, but not forgotten! THE program for building
aircraft.
'Scenery and object designer' and 'FSWOW!' by BAO/APOLLO- Tired of a lack of detail at your
airport?
...BUT ALOT OF IT STILL IS (The author's freeware favs)
Any airplane from Bill Alderson, Terry Hill, Eric Johnson, Mike Hill... this list goes on and on.
The gauges by Alan Capt, the HGHB group, and Chuck Dome.
Nav1.9 by Micheal Walther/Larry Fortuna and Pre-Flight Checklist by Frank Safranek
The panels by Eric Ernst (who also stared down the guys who almost ruined freeware and won)
RealWeather by Jeff Wheeler/Steve Halpern
FAVORITE HAUNTS (Web sites worth checking out)
FREEFlight Design Shop at www.geocities.com/~freefltdesign/. My main hangout on the web where
all questions are answered and all fears allayed. The day we take ourselves seriously is the day
we fold up shop. We specialize in providing airplane source files for Flight Shop from some of the
best on the 'net as well as hosting a forum for aircraft designers and general Q+A. Our tutorials
section alone is worth the visit.
Flightsim.com at www.flightsim.com . If Flightsim doesn't have it or know about it, it just
doesn't exist! The best site for downloading plane files, scenery, utilities, panels, and anything
else related to Flight Simulator. Thank goodness Nels has the patience to keep up with this hobby!
Keith's Virtual Helipad at http://members.tripod.com/~helipad/ . The mother load for helicopters.
Also, great reference photos, 'wallpaper' for your pc and tutorials on how to tame the toughest flight
model in FS98.
NOAA weather reports in METAR format at http://tgsv7.nws.noaa.gov/weather/metar/shtml#files .
The site for downloading weather data. A typical report will use a world-wide data base of
2200 reporting stations. The report can be fed directly into RealWeather.
Freeflight Design Shop
Providing free high-quality source files for flight simulators
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Welcome to Freeflight Design Shop and thank you for downloading one of our available
aircraft.
This site was founded by:
Bill Alderson (Cyber Air)
Guy G. Caron (The Captain's Quarters)
Paul Conley (Classic Jets)
Tom Gibson (Classic Airliners)
Ralph D. Mitchell, Jr. (Retired)
Frank Safranek (PreFlight Checklist)
Kevin Trinkle (PSA Smile High)
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NOTICE: Please KEEP THIS TEXT FILE and any other text file with any
repaints, or remakes of this aircraft.
This file, and any updates, are NOT to be placed on any web site or electronic
media. This includes for "free" or for payment. ONLY THE ORIGINAL AUTHOR MAY
APPROVE OTHERWISE! If you cannot reach the original author please do not assume
this gives you approval to place this file where you please. The files are not Public
Domain, they are copyrighted by the original author.
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Freeflight Design Shop is an association of people who have two objectives for
flight simulation:
1. Providing high quality source files; and,
2. Encouraging active participation from everyone, whether developer or painter
or pilot!
The objective of our association, and web site, is to provide the flight sim
community with the highest quality source files that are freely available. We welcome
updates to these files so we all can share in our joint knowledge of this fine hobby.
Simply, all we ask that if you update a file, please CREDIT THE ORIGINAL DESIGNER
and make it immediately available to everyone without any type of charge. You might say we
believe in "Shareware" of a different kind. Of course, if you have a new file that you
would like to freely share - let us know and we'll post it along with the others. It doesn't
matter that the type of aircraft already exists, it only matters that it's your own creation
and/or freely available.
Regards,
Freeflight Design Shop
http://www.freeflightdesign.com
(C) 1998 - 2000